


Milk Carton Boys and Roadside Tall Tales

by dragonofeternal



Series: Runaways [3]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, Monsters, Road Trips, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-01 03:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8606080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonofeternal/pseuds/dragonofeternal
Summary: Judal and Hakuryuu take in a pretty young hitchhiker on a foggy Georgia back road. But something stalks through the thick, swampy nights, watching their trail and waiting for the chance to strike....





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My original plan had been to post this on Halloween, since it's a little bit spoopy, but that didn't end up panning out, lol. As with "Rainstorms and Road Signs," it's not necessary to have ready the previous works in the _Runaways_ verse to enjoy this story, but I do encourage you read them if you enjoy this sort of thing.

"With all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moooooooooooon!!!" 

Judal belts out the open window as they whip along the unlit Georgia back road. He had pirated a shit-ton of Disney music at the last hotel, leeching the wi-fi to make his off-brand smartphone into his own personal jukebox. Hakuryuu tried to stop the singing when it started, but Judal, as always, proved unstoppable. So they drive down the foggy two-lane road, tall, skinny trees like skeletons lining their way, and Judal serenading them with his own renditions of the Disney standards. 

The darkness of the road is great, and made worse by the pillowy, obfuscating clouds of fog that clog up their headlights, stopping their vision only a few paces before the car's nose. Hakuryuu would drive slower, but it's late, and the road is dark of the light of other vehicles, and he's too tired to stay awake enough to creep the car forward. He needs the speed. He needs the rush.

"Be Prepared" from the Lion King starts up on Judal's phone next, and Hakuryuu finds himself muttering along in spite of himself. It's hard to resist a good villain song, especially when Judal seems to be having the time of his life singing along. Maybe if he does the same, then he'll feel half as good as-

**_THUD-THA-THUNK!!_ **

Hakuryuu slams on the breaks a second too late; it's a reaction to the sound, not the sight. Judal swears, and they're both flung forward in their seats. Judal's phone continues to sing as the they both catch their breath. _Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared…. Be Prepared!_

Judal bends down and turns his music off. "The fuck was that?" he asks, looking over at Hakuryuu. 

Hakuryuu slowly shakes his head, undoing his seatbelt. "I'm going to go look."

Judal clumsily follows suit. "Me too!" He never likes to be left out of potentially fun and/or gruesome and/or dangerous sightseeing. Even from here he thinks he can see _something_ lying in the road, some great, furred, probably dead-

It gets up in a blur as Judal's climbing from his seat, knocking the door into him and tearing into the woods. 

"Fuck," Judal swears again, "we gotta go after it!" And then he pursues without a second thought. 

"Judal!" Hakuryuu shouts after him, but only the whoosh of the chase and the cicada-silence of the night replies. He climbs back into the car and pulls it off to the side of the road, killing the engine and taking the keys. Then he follows after Judal with a flashlight. 

Judal isn't hard to find; for all his excitement, he tires quickly when doing actual physical tasks, and Hakuryuu finds him crouched over a patch of fur on a fallen tree branch. He grins up at Hakuryuu. "Bet our buddy went this way." 

"Or it was some other thing," Hakuryuu replies. "Don't run off like that. You'll worry me to death." 

Judal snickers, standing up again. "What, don't tell me you're still scared of the dark like when we were kids?" 

An owl hoots in the distance, and every rustle in the dark seems alive with menace. Hakuryuu grits his teeth at the insult, but he tries not to let his annoyance show. "I just worry when you're out of my sight. You get into trouble." There. That's not too annoyed, or too weak. Judal seems proud of the assertion too, puffed up like a proud bird. Hakuryuu shines his flashlight on the fur, then on the woods around. Whatever left that fur, and whatever they hit, whether they were the same or different, were both long gone. "Come on, Judal. I don't like leaving the car unattended like this. Let's get back on the road." 

"Yeah, yeah…" Judal looks around once more as well, as though somehow he'll see something Hakuryuu missed in the skeletal trees. "You win." 

Hakuryuu nods, because of course he wins. He is, after all, their self appointed voice of reason. Judal complains about the muddy ground the whole walk back to their car, where there is another surprise waiting for them.

"What in Il Illah's name-" Judal throws a hand angrily in the direction of the girl leaned up against their car. She lifts her head to nod at them, side ponytail bobbing a little as she does so. "Who the hell are you?"

* * *

The girl's name was Morgiana. 

She said she was heading west- didn't say where, just that she was going there. She stared at them through heavy lashed eyes after that. Waiting.

Judal opened his mouth to tell her where to shove it, but Hakuryuu elbowed him. He offered her a ride. Said they were heading south for now, but that cutting west shouldn't be a problem if that was what she wanted.

She said she didn't care.

Judal dragged Hakuryuu by the arm then, behind the car, and they bickered in voices they thought were soft enough to go unheard. We can't trust her, and We can't leave a lady all by herself. What about the thing we hit, and Who fucking cares, Judal.

She could hear them just fine, but she didn't interrupt. It would be rude. 

Driver's rules was what won in the end, and Hakuryuu opened the passenger door for Morgiana. Helping girls is the right thing to do.

* * *

"So what are you going west for?" Hakuryuu asks when they finally stop. Mid-morning. Tiny town with a tinier name. The gas station coffee tastes like sludgy ash in his mouth, but he keeps drinking it on the vain hope that it'll have enough caffeine to bust through his rapidly growing tolerance. 

"I'm meeting someone," Morgiana replies. Her speech is plain, to the point; a welcome departure from Judal's interminable rambles.

Hakuryuu takes another bitter sip of his coffee and scans the parking lot of the general store across the street for a sign of Judal. "A friend?" he asks Morgiana, curious.

"You could say that." 

Hakuryuu nods. "We're sort of doing the opposite. Driving around, no destination, trying to… to see as many different places as we can." He doesn't know if he can finish the coffee. It's that bad today. But his body is crying for caffeine… he stifles a yawn. "We've been on the road for a while." 

"It smells like it."

Hakuryuu turns red. "I. I didn't realize. I'm sorry-" 

This time it's Morgiana who starts a little. She turns and looks at him. "No, it's not that bad. I just have a good nose." 

Hakuryuu grunts, but he's not sure he believes her. Can he subtly try to sniff his pits to check? He forces down another sip of coffee. Judal's loping across the street now, taking long strides in his billowing pants and waving at Hakuryuu. Maybe it's Judal that smells, or maybe he can catch a whiff of Judal's B.O. that'll let him know just how bad he smells? Either way, the worry is making his disgusting coffee go down faster. It gives him something to do with his mouth other than further embarrass himself talking to their pretty hitchhiker. 

"So how long are you gonna be taggin' along, Muscles?" Judal asks. "Where the hell are you going, anyway?"

"She's just going west with us for a while," Hakuryuu says, cutting Judal off before he could say anything more offensive. 

It doesn't really help. "Whaaaat? But we've already _been_ west! We just did west!" 

Hakuryuu groans, rolling his eyes to glare at Judal. "And? What, did you want to keep driving south until we hit Florida, then caulk up the car and float it to Cuba?" Judal opens his mouth but Hakuryuu cuts him off again. "We've backtracked before. You're just making a stink to be difficult." 

Judal frowns deeply and flings himself into the backseat of the car. "Whatever." 

Hakuryuu offers a sheepish, apologetic smile to Morgiana, who says nothing in reply. "Georgia's the peach state," he says to no one in particular, but hopes Judal will still listen to him. "And it's still summer. We can go to a peach orchard, pick some fruit along the way. That'd be fun, right? Rather than just blazing through the state without stopping?" They're all getting into the car now, and the absence of the radio and Judal's rambling makes Hakuryuu unable to stop talking as he pulls the car out. He's gotten used to the sound. "And I'm sure there's some great roadside attractions, too. It'll be fun Judal."

* * *

Summer is hard. 

Nights too short. 

Days too hot. 

Sweat clings dirt to the pads of your feet, and fur seems to suffocate. People on the roads at all hours. So many people, all smelling like sweat and metal and meat. Even at night, heat. Even at night, smells.

Tongue lolling. Too damn hot.

* * *

The words "Peach Festival" are not ones that Judal can easily resist. Especially not when they're said to him by a smiling Hakuryuu over a just-the-two-of-them breakfast while Morgiana sleeps in. They pull a smile from his lips, and that smile makes Hakuryuu sigh and laugh and smile back, glad their dispute is forgotten.

The three of them are some of the only non-white people there, but there's music and shitty carnival games and, most importantly, plenty of perfectly ripe peaches. 

Judal shoves their basket full with the best peaches in the orchard, climbing trees with childlike abandon to get the choicest fruits. Hakuryuu smiles to see the grin on his face, and it feels like, maybe, life won't be an utter disaster just because they have an extra person along for the trip. 

Morgiana gives them space, looking at displays of local crafts and watching them from the corner of her eye. No need to interrupt. She can watch them from a distance.

Afterwards they get to take a hayride to the rustic, barn-style building where they can make their purchases. The inside smells like cider and is decorated in the earthy, wholesome tones of country America. There's more local art, and mass-produced home goods designed to look like local art, and the overall feeling that this is a place where you're getting something Real, despite where it was made. Hakuryuu is half-surprised Judal doesn't try to pick-pocket the entire ambiance to shove in their trunk with the taxidermied jackalope.

(He's not entirely sure how one would go about pick-pocketing the feeling of a place, but he's sure Judal could manage it.)

Instead, Judal settles for pocketing a small wooden star and then wandering off to go look at the books on local history. It seems an odd choice to Hakuryuu, but Judal is nothing if not odd. He and Morgiana patiently wait through the line while Judal goofs off, and he insists on buying Morgiana's souvenir for her.

(It would be impolite to make a lady on her own cover such a thing)

Morgiana insists on at least carrying the bags, and Hakuryuu would swear he sees her dig a hole in the wood floor with the heel of her flat when he objects that they'd be too heavy. He gives her the bags, and she seems satisfied.

"Judal," Hakuryuu says, walking over to reclaim his distracted friend. "We're all done. Time to go." 

Judal turns and greets Hakuryuu with a wolfish smile that is made even more wolfish when Hakuryuu glimpses the grisly illustration in the book he's looking at. "Hey, Hakuryuu," he says, pointing at the picture. THE WOLG AND THE NODOROC reads the heading above it, and Hakuryuu isn't sure what terrifies him more in the illustration- the horrifying creatures wolfish, hyena-esque appearance or the terrible quality of the art. Scanning the article surrounding it, he sees things about swamp lights, and "Old Indian Legends" and similarly offensively inaccurate-sounding bs. "Wanna go see the gates of hell?"

* * *

"Hey, Hakuryuu. Hakuryuu." 

Hakuryuu blinks an eye open, bitter to be awoken from his sweet and peaceful dreams. Judal stares back at him, the whites of his eyes panic-wide in the dark holes of his sleepy bags and smeared makeup. It's enough to rouse him to motion, even if he doesn't want to wake up.

"Shush, Judal," he says, trying to pull Judal into the bed and to his side. "Shush. Shut up. Let's get some sleep. I was dreaming…"

"I heard something outside," Judal says, not a shred of sleep in his voice. "Moving. Growling. Do you think it could be-" 

"Sleeping, Judal." Hakuryuu claps a hand over Judal's mouth. 

Judal licks him.

"Augh!"

"I'm just saying, it could be the Wolg." He's all nervous energy corded up in Hakuryuu's arms. Hakuryuu feels the magic inside Judal prickle his skin, feels it like it's going to burst free of Judal's flesh and go running. "We should go look outside, see if we can find it! We could become like, heroes. Or at least have a cool story. Though I guess if there was news coverage it might cause problems for our whole running away schtick. But hey! We'll burn that bridge when we get to it!"

"Judal," Hakuryuu says, petting his head. "Deep breath. Let's go for a walk, okay?" 

They get up and Judal brings Hakuryuu clothes, something warm against the night chill. Summer is in its final throes, hot one moment, cold the next, and they dress to meet it. There's a general store just up the road- they walk hand in hand along the starlight shoulder to its halo of parking lot lights. Hakuryuu grips Judal's hand like a dog's leash and listens as Judal rattles off all the thoughts in his head. It's not something that needs response- just something he needs to get out, to excise, to free him of all the baggage rattling around in him.

That's why it catches him completely off guard when Judal asks him a question directly.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Judal asks. 

Hakuryuu looks at him, puzzled. "Helping Morgiana? Of course." 

"No, no, not that, I mean…" He gestures all around them. "This. All of this. This running and hiding and driving all over with cash we're rapidly burning through and like nine million fake credit cards. Is it the right thing to so?" 

The lights in the general store buzz overhead at a slightly different pitch than the lights in the drink case. Judal sighs, heavy, tired, and opens up the case. His hands hover, indecisive, and he ends up grabbing a carton of milk over his usual juices and sodas. 

"You know in cartoons and movies and stuff they always put missing kids' pictures on these things. But I don't think I've ever actually seen one in real life."

Hakuryuu shrugs. "It's probably something they did a long time ago. Or maybe someone just made it up, and everyone has just copied them since." 

He watches Judal stare at the milk for a long time before putting it back. Hakuryuu grabs him a bottle of juice before the drink case falls shut again. 

"Hey, Judal," Hakuryuu finally says as they're leaving. "You deserved to run away, too."

* * *

There is something seeing, and there is something being seen. There is something hunting, and there is something being hunted. Sometimes these things are one and the same. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes the seer is the hunted, and the seen is the hunter. 

Tonight there are two who hunt.

Paws on pavement, leaping through the darkness between the parking lots and the street lights. Cool breeze tonight. Plenty of young prey out. Jaws snap on a rabbit, on hot blood and sinew that twitch as they are gulped down. Street-animals, stringy and small, taste like trash. Not like home. Better than nothing. It feeds the beast.

Another set of eyes is on a general store. Those eyes see, and two are seen. They smell like too long travel, like weary souls. One smells like death. The watcher sniffs the air, its long, forked tongue testing the winds as its nose twitches. Home is calling- not only for the hunter, but for its prey, bubbling in the dark, in the wastes. Drive him, drown him, consume him, be consumed in turn. It stalks.

_They_ stalk.

What is seen tonight is ignorant; it is too late to stop the jaws from closing.


	2. Chapter 2

Judal leans on the counter of the restaurant while Morgiana counts out the change for their meal. Hakuryuu tried to persuade her not to pay, but Judal and Morgiana both insisted that Hakuryuu save his funds. 

"Hey, have you heard about the Wolg? Or Nodoroc?" Judal asks a server at rest. "You know anything about 'em?"

The boy gives him a weird look before disappearing through a door marked "Employees Only," and Judal sighs. The man taking Morgiana's money chuckles. 

"Oh, he won't know anything for you, boy. He's not from around here." The cash register punctuates the statement with a cartoon-perfect ka-ching. "But I lived round these parts since I was a little boy. Grand-daddy was from around here too. And I could tell you all about the Nodoroc." He offers Judal the perfect grin of storyteller about to weave a tall tale as he handed Morgiana her receipt. 

Morgiana mutters a thank you as she tucks the receipt into her coin purse. 

"Now, the Nodoroc, why, some say it's a pit to hell itself! You won't find it marked on any maps nowadays, and it's gotten a little smaller as the world's gotten a little less magical of a place, but back in the old days of settlers and Indians, they say it spanned miles. The Wolg crawled out of it in the early days. Some of the white men who settled this land thought he was the devil, or his hunter, or a demon out to devour them all… Sniffing the air with his tongue like a snake, slipping into towns and out with his prey to drag them into the Nodoroc… but the Indians, they knew. They knew the Wolg's true nature."

Judal leans forward. "And that was…?" 

"The Wolg is a gatekeeper and a soul judger. He won't drag no righteous soul out into that bubbling hell-pit, no, he sniffs out the wicked and chases them down into the Nodoroc as judgement for their crimes. They hear the swish thump of his great ol' tail, see the uneven lope of his legs, and then they go runnin' like sheep from a wolf, till he runs 'em into the Nodoroc so the Devil can claim their wicked souls." The old man leans forward, his eyebrows rising high into his crinkled forehead until they almost met his snow-white hairline. "The Indians knew to just stay clear of the Nodoroc. And if you know what's good for you, you will too." 

Judal grins at the old man. "If there's one thing I've never learned, it's what was good for me. What else do you know?"

"Well," he continues, "one thing I know for sure, it's too late once you see its bright red-"

Morgiana yanks on Judal's arm. "Hakuryuu's waiting for us back at the booth. Come on." 

"Ah, what, but-" Morgiana's grip digs into Judal's arm with surprising strength, and she pulls Judal from the counter. His cheap sneakers slip on the linoleum, and he staggers to keep from falling. "Hey!"

Morgiana glances askance with eyes that hold no barter. "You're wasting time. Hakuryuu said he wanted this to be a short meal stop." She shoves him in a way that looked like it should have been gentle, but sent Judal stumbling either out of force or his own clumsiness. "We still have a way's west to go today." 

Hakuryuu sets down the paper he'd been scanning. "Morgiana's right, Judal. Let's go." 

Judal glances back at the old man at the counter, who stole a smile in Judal's direction in between transactions. "You be careful asking about the Wolg, boy! Else it might catch your scent, and only God Himself'll be able to save you!"

* * *

_The Wolg's bright red…_ what?

Judal watches sullenly from the back seat as Morgiana's hair whips in the breeze, as Hakuryuu chats her up like she's an old friend and he's just soooo glad to see her again and play catch up. Hakuryuu doesn't have any friends but him. It isn't fair. 

Despite Hakuryuu and Morgiana's insistence that they still had a ways to go, they make it an early night, making their lodging at a two-story motel on a desolate stretch of highway. Judal doesn't even complain. His phone gps says they're close to the Nodoroc, so worst comes to worst, he can sneak out and go get some sight-seeing in while the other two keep being buddy-buddy or whatever.

He watches Morgiana laugh, politely, at a miserable abortion of a joke that Hakuryuu stumbles out. The hand that dragged him from the diner connects to an arm corded with powerful muscle. Her eyes are hungry- he knows that look. This is someone searching for something, or maybe hunting something, or maybe….

He bites the inside of his cheek and insinuates himself between the two.

"Hey, Hakuryuu, since we're making it an early night, why don't we go take a little time just the two of us?"

* * *

Hakuryuu laughs softly, wrapping his arms around Judal's waist and kissing his ear from behind. "You've been so quiet I was worried you might have been mad at me again."

Judal takes Hakuryuu's right hand off his waist and kisses it right over the thumb. "Why would I be mad?" 

Hakuryuu kisses down the line of Judal's neck before resting his head on his shoulder. "I don't know. You seem to be… Distant? And still sort of upset about Morgiana being along with us." He kisses his shoulder. "After we reunite her with her friend or whatever… do you want to go back to going south? I'll take you to Disney or something." 

Judal laughs. "Disney? Isn't that a little pricey for what we have left?"

"I trust your ability to get us into places we shouldn't be."

Judal feigns looking scandalized. "And scam good old Walt? Hakuryuu, I'm shocked at you!" And then he laughs, which turns into gasps and giggles and squirming as Hakuryuu grabs hold of his hip and begins to kiss his neck all over again, peppering it with light kisses that- Fuck, that distracted him from what he wanted to say! He squirms away, gasping, flushed, and tries to regain his composure. "I. Wait. There was. Look about Morgiana, there was something I wanted…"

Hakuryuu tilts his head to the side.

"I think she might be the Wolg!" Judal blurts out before he can get distracted again.

Hakuryuu visibly sags with frustration. "Judal…" 

Judal tenses back up, like a spring wound too tight. "You don't believe me." 

Hakuryuu advances his words with caution. "I think you're a little jealous, and it's making you act irrationally. Also I think you've been having a paranoid streak lately about this whole Wolg thing and-"

"The man at the diner-" Judal tries.

"The man at the diner used the word 'Indians' to refer to Native Americans and shouted after you like a loon when we left." Hakuryuu has a hard time keeping the huff out of his voice. "He was just an old man who liked to tell spooky stories."

Judal doesn't look convinced. The set of his jaw is hard. "Don't patronize me. There's something here, I can feel it, and there's something not right about Morgiana. She refuses to room with us-"

"A young woman deserves her privacy-"

"-I know I heard her going somewhere last night-"

"-it's not a crime to leave the hotel-"

"-I'll prove I'm right!"

"The only thing you're going to prove is that you're a crazy idiot!" Hakuryuu shouts. The people in the room next to them bang on the wall, and they both jump. Right. Hakuryuu reigns his temper in, because he is practically a grown man, and he's not going to lose his cool over some silly thing like this.

Judal is a knotted pile of resentment and determination. "Oh, I'm a crazy idiot, am I?" He scoffs a little. "Doesn't mean I'm not right."

He shoves past Hakuryuu and slams the door shut behind him. Hakuryuu stands there, mildly dumbfounded, feeling the threat of tears in his throat, and a blossoming of rage that Judal got the last word. 

"Yes it does," he growls at the door and throws himself on the bed.

* * *

Hakuryuu rolls out of bed, no longer able to keep moping. Judal's been gone long enough, longer than he usually is, and it's enough to make Hakuryuu worry that he might have actually made a mistake this time. Judal probably made more of a mistake, granted, with being rude to Morgiana, and being completely crazy and unreasonable, but maybe he's at fault a little this time too. Maybe. 

He slips on his shoes by the door of the hotel room and goes out into the sticky, overcast night. "Judal?" he calls, walking down the concrete catwalk and to the stairs that lead to the parking lot. "Judaaal." 

Overhead, the lights buzz like flies, and mosquitoes and gnats swarm over their surface with soft dinks. The noise is intolerable in that way that quiet noises are when you are alone in an otherwise silent night.

"Judal, I'm sorry. Why don't we go back to the room and talk this over. After that, we'll... I don't know. We can eat some peaches?" Hakuryuu pads down the length of the building and around to its side. "Come on, Judal, this isn't funny." 

He sighs, trying to think of where he might have gone. This is God's Country, which means nothing's open past six pm, and there's nothing around for miles. He can't imagine Judal would have the patience and stamina to get back up the highway to the nearest McDonald's, nor that he would be so stupid as to teleport himself somewhere. He takes a deep breath and shouts again.

Only the buzzing answers.

Hakuryuu turns, retracing his steps. The car's still where he left it, and Judal can't drive anyway.

"Maybe Morgiana knows," he mutters under his breath, heading for her room. "Judal was going on about her... I hope he hasn't bothered her too much... Or hurt her..." He runs a hand through his hair with a sigh and goes back up the stairs. 

"Miss Morgiana," he says, raising a hand to knock on her door. But when his hand comes down on the door, it swung open, having already been ajar. Dread seizes his gut. "Miss Morgiana?" Hakuryuu pushes the door open the rest of the way, poking his head in. The room is a disaster zone of torn bedding and discarded blankets. 

"Oh no..."

* * *

The room the boy had slept in was in is empty. Testing. Sniffing. Tongue flicking. Gone, yes, gone, but not long. Tail starts up with excitement. Swish-thump. Swish-thump. Turning, unseen, back onto the road. Somewhere in the hotel, someone dreams of that thing they did and never told anyone about and regrets everything when they wake. 

The Wolg has already chosen its quarry, and has no time for petty persons such as that.

Back down the road. Back to the call. Back home. 

The Nodoroc has already summoned the prey.

Swish-thump.

Swish-thump.

* * *

Hakuryuu grips the steering wheel tighter. It'll be fine. It'll all be fine. It has to be. Just straight down the Atlanta Highway. It seems stupid to think that some portal to hell would be on this major of a road, but fog rolled in as the sun went down; now the wet night air sticks in his lungs like gelatin, makes his heat- and smoke-scarred respiratory system wheeze for an inhaler he hasn't had since elementary school. He curses his pride, for the inhaler and for Judal's disappearance.

He has to slam on the brakes when the placid, electric voice on his phone announces that he's arrived at his destination. Hakuryuu flings himself out of the car, grimacing at the sulfurous smell of the bog. He'd never have given this place a second thought had they been driving, and yet…

A shiver runs down his spine at the prickle of magic in the air. 

Hakuryuu jogs from the car into the woods, casting his flashlight from side to side. Should he call for Judal? Or would doing so just endanger them both? His foot catches in the muck, twisting and sending him to his knees. He swears under his breath and rubs at his ankle, fumbling in the dark for his fallen flashlight. Why the hell does Judal have to be like this? Why the hell did he, personally, have to be so stubborn and refuse to believe Judal? Even if he still doubts that Miss Morgiana would be a terrible monster, the fact still remains that the belief that she was now has him slogging through a swamp in backwater Georgia.

"If he's back at the hotel and I did this for nothing," Hakuryuu grumbles as he pulls himself out of the muck. 

"Found you!" 

Hakuryuu's ears prick up. That's Judal's voice. He'd know it anywhere, clear as day, and he runs in its direction, breaking through the trees as the muck he slogs through gets deeper and deeper. 

Judal looks decidedly dryer, but Hakuryuu's relief keeps him from being too bitter. The clearing is wreathed in shimmering foxfire gas light, and the sense of wrongness and _power_ thrums straight to Hakuryuu's core. This feeling, deep in his gut, makes the mystery spots and souvenirs and stupid roadside attractions make sense. Is this what Judal's been chasing?

If it is, then Hakuryuu fears to know just what he plans on doing with it.

Judal squares off against a great beast of a wolf with bright red fur and fangs that glimmer in the wan light. Is that the Wolg? Is this Judal's mystery beast?

"I knew I'd find you here," he says, sounding almost gleeful. "You might have Hakuryuu fooled, but not me. I saw you change. I saw you go off into the night. And now I'm going to catch you and drain you of everything you've got. Take a little piece of this place with me. You get it?" 

The creature shakes its head, and the snarl sounds almost human. 

Hakuryuu hunkers down into the reeds, trying to move as quietly through the mire as he can. Whether Judal is nuts or not, he doesn't want that thing to hurt him… and when it springs, Hakuryuu does too, tackling it to the ground. 

The beast struggles in Hakuryuu's arms, teeth bared but not striking, eyes wide enough to see the whites of its eyes. Judal grins, shocked and overjoyed. He threads his fingers in the air and the smell of ozone overtakes everything. Hakuryuu feels a weird, motion sick feeling come over him- the feeling of reality shifting. The monster in his arms gives a too human groan, and she becomes Morgiana once again.

"I knew," Judal rasps. Hakuryuu feels a spike of concern at how ragged he sounds, at the way his fingertips bleed slightly from the scorching touch of magic. Mages use wands for a reason. "I knew you weren't just some hitchhiker. You're the Wolg. And you've been stalking us."

Morgiana shakes her head. "No! You've got it all wrong. I'm-"

"Shut up," Hakuryuu hisses, pulling his arm tighter across her throat. "I don't want to hear whatever excuses you have for you stalking us." He has to keep a solid front with Judal.

"I am not the Wolg," she gasps through the tightness of Hakuryuu's grip. 

"Whatever you are," Judal says, eyes narrow and hard, "you're not gonna be it for much longer." The clouds shift, and the light of the full moon casts Judal's face in eerie, sallow light. The air prickles again; the world goes sharp with cruel intent that smells like bog water and blood. 

"Judal," Hakuryuu tries to warn, but the world is already reshaping under his feet and he cannot speak for its inversion. Morgiana feels small in his arms, and he wants to say more but he cannot and then he can and there is something great and high and-

A horrible swish-thump breaks the sound of shattering. Judal starts, angry and confused at the intrusion, and goes pale. He staggers back a few feet, and the swish-thump follows him. Swish-thump. Swish-thump. 

"Oh hell." Judal can't think of anything more to say. 

The real Wolg springs forward and knocks Judal into the muck and mire. 

"No! Get off!" Judal tries to kick out, tries to shove it off, but its massive forepaws press down, down, down until the bog water is threatening into his mouth ad he coughs against it. 

Hakuryuu lets go of Morgiana, whatever threat she might have posed forgotten. "Judal!" He springs at the Wolg and grabs hold, yanking at its coarse, dark fur. The beast bucks, but Hakuryuu hods. It's enough that Judal can roll away, gasping and flailing in the shallow muck of the Nodoroc. The Wolg bucks again and throws Hakuryuu aside. 

Hakuryuu cannot tear his eyes away from the tusks and fangs that glint and fester in the wound of the Wolg's mouth. A tongue like a serpent's tests the air, and the eyes, the eyes, the blood red eyes of fire burn into his soul and see his failings, his guilt. Killer. Killer, brother-killer who lives when others should have been the ones to survive, just like the guilt in his heart swears at night. The beast's tail gives a great SWISH-THUMP as it opens its mouth to speak or devour or drag.

Morgiana tackles it from the side, her own teeth a gleam like silvered moonlight. The Wolg snarls, but she doesn't back down. She's a bright red streak like a wound, striking and dodging and running and striking again, a foe faster than the chimeric Wolg's great size can catch. One massive paw catches her shoulder, but she goes down in the mud for only a moment. 

There is no weight of guilt in her movement, no hollowness to her howl. 

Hakuryuu pulls himself from the grime and rushes to Judal's side, pulling him up. "Judal," he whispers, pressing his face Judal's, his hands feeling for any wound. "Judal, are you alright?"

Judal coughs and pushes at Hakuryuu with his bleeding, magic-scorched hands. "I'm fine," he says, but he is shaking. "I'm fine." His legs tremble as he stands. "It just knocked the wind out of me." 

The Wolg and Morgiana square off before them, each snarling, hackles raised, but every time the Wolg attempts to get at them, Morgiana moves to block it. Judal swallows and raises a hand once more.

The world tilts so hard that all three of them hit the floor of their hotel room in a crumpled heap. 

Judal's the first one up, locking the door and checking outside to make sure that their car made it back before pulling the blinds shut. 

"You're welcome," he says, turning around and looking as impressive as he can with his hair caked with grime and his clothes ruined and his hands bleeding. Morgiana cocks her head to the side and growls, and Hakuryuu just groans from his place on the floor. "And, um," Judal amends, "I'm sorry I guess."

* * *

The next morning, when they're washed and clean, and a little less shaken, they drop Morgiana off at a Greyhound bus station.

"Hey…" Judal says, awkwardly rubbing his arm and not quite making eye contact with her. "I'm sorry I thought you were a horrible monster from some hell-swamp that wanted to drag me and Hakuryuu into the void, and that I _kiiiind of_ almost eliminated you from existence 'cuz of it. That wasn't cool." They're standing around in the almost pleasant morning air, waiting for the bus to arrive. "I was just thinking. I mean. You don't have to ditch if you don't want to. You don't take up that much space." 

Hakuryuu pats him on the back for a job well done. Apologizing is always hard for him.

Morgiana shakes her head though.

"You two are trouble." She sounds more amused than annoyed. "More trouble than you're worth. I'll take my chances on the bus." 

Hakuryuu looks embarrassed, and he forces out a laugh to hide it. "I suppose we are a little… much. Especially Judal."

"Hey!"

Morgiana nods. "Judal… Yes. The scent of disaster clings to him. Like something terrible about to happen." She looks soberly at Hakuryuu. "You should be careful if you plan to stay with him." Then, a miracle- a small, wry smile graces her face. "Though that has nothing to do with why you two are trouble. I just don't want to be stuck on the road with two lovestruck boys."

Hakuryuu goes red-faced and tries to sputter out an apology. Before much gets out though, a bus pulls up from the foggy gloom and wheezes to a stop a few feet shy of the greyhound sign. Morgiana pulls her heavy pack on with little trouble and smiles wider at them.

"Thank you again for letting me ride with you."

Judal nods, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket. "I hope you find that person you're looking for." 

She nods. "I do too. I've never really known any others of my kind. I hope you can stay unfound by whatever's looking for you."

And with that, Morgiana turns and is gone- onto the bus and off west, to whomever it is she seeks. Hakuryuu sighs and leans sideways into Judal.

"So do you want to go back to going South?" he asks the murky dawn.

Judal shrugs in reply. "I dunno. I'm getting pretty sick of this humidity. You pick for a while." 

They get back in the car and just drive, letting the purr of the engine and the grumble of the tires on the asphalt fill the silence between them. The road signs stretch before them, glowing, hazy beacons of ports that cannot harbor them from the storm that pursues them. Neither mentions the Wolg, or things aloud of Al Tharmen. Judal's hand finds Hakuryuu's without looking, and they find comfort enough in that.

There's comfort enough in that.


End file.
